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Old 01-08-2011, 04:43 PM
 
Location: Youngstown, Oh.
5,496 posts, read 9,433,130 times
Reputation: 5604

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There seems to be a lot of disagreement about what these mean to different posters here. I'm often surprised to read what some posters' descriptions of these are.

So, using Google street view, your own images, whatever, show us what you think of, or what you consider to be idea/stereotypical, when you read/hear the words urban, suburban, and/or rural.

Here is where I grew up, and so forms my concept of suburban:
Commercial district - Perry Heights, Ohio - Google Maps

Residential - Perry Heights, Ohio - Google Maps

This is what rural looks like where I grew up:
Beach City, OH - Google Maps

I've posted these before, but these are images of what I consider ideal urban neighborhoods: (one could easily walk to stores, restaurants, and mass-transit to get downtown for work)



And finally, here are a couple examples of what comes to mind when I hear the word "sprawl"
Perry Heights, OH - Google Maps

Jackson Township, OH - Google Maps
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Old 01-08-2011, 05:51 PM
 
Location: Miami, FL
187 posts, read 539,450 times
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All of these are from my hometown, Miami, and the surrounding areas. Enjoy.

High-income urban residential mixed with urban commerical/financial buildings.

Google Maps

Urban medium to high density commercial.

Google Maps

Urban medium density low-income residential. Right outside the downtown

Google Maps

About as low density as you can get without being rural. THIS is sprawl. I hate this development with a passion. You can find this throughout all of broward county. This could be considered medium-income. $300-400k homes. That's not that much in Miami.

Suburban mid-to high-income residential. Dense enough not to be sprawl, spread out enough to allow for a sense security and ownership. Just outside of downtown. My ideal neighborhood.

Google Maps

Suburban mixed medium- and low-density residential. "Middle" ring of suburbs. Outside of city proper but not an exurb. Downtown commutable. Not considered sprawl. Not exactly ideal development either. This is where I'm from. The thing in the background is not empty space, it's a school baseball/football field.

Google Maps

Rural. Yes, there are rural areas in Miami . Most of is not near the city proper though. Mostly farmland not too much residential.

Google Maps

We have VERY different ideas about zoning.
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Old 01-08-2011, 06:00 PM
nei nei won $500 in our forum's Most Engaging Poster Contest - Thirteenth Edition (Jan-Feb 2015). 

Over $104,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum and additional contests are planned
 
Location: Western Massachusetts
46,011 posts, read 53,154,008 times
Reputation: 15174
My concept of suburbia was formed from growing up in Long Island. Here's a typical residential neighborhood:

Hicksville, NY - Google Maps

Here's a somewhat pedestrian friendly street:

huntington station,ny - Google Maps

and one less so:

Hicksville, NY - Google Maps

Here are some sterotypical urban neighborhoods that I would find pleasant:

Brooklyn, New York, NY - Google Maps

this is one a bit lower in density:

cambridge,ma - Google Maps

still has very little yard space, housing close together, and walkable.

An urban commercial street:

Brooklyn, New York, NY - Google Maps

Lots of people walking, variety of small independent & chain shops.

Rural:

Hadley, Hampshire, Massachusetts 01035 - Google Maps

Not too far from where I live.
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Old 01-09-2011, 10:03 AM
 
Location: Youngstown, Oh.
5,496 posts, read 9,433,130 times
Reputation: 5604
Thanks for he responses so far. Based on what nei posted, it seems the midwest and northeast have similar development patterns. While my example of suburban commercial doesn't look like the example nei posted, there are areas like that, but they are closer to the cities.
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Old 01-09-2011, 11:59 AM
nei nei won $500 in our forum's Most Engaging Poster Contest - Thirteenth Edition (Jan-Feb 2015). 

Over $104,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum and additional contests are planned
 
Location: Western Massachusetts
46,011 posts, read 53,154,008 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JR_C View Post
Thanks for he responses so far. Based on what nei posted, it seems the midwest and northeast have similar development patterns. While my example of suburban commercial doesn't look like the example nei posted, there are areas like that, but they are closer to the cities.
From pictures I've seen the housing styles and patterns in the midwest are similar to the northeast though I think the midwest in general tends to be a bit less dense and the pattern tends to be a bit more gridlike.

Your urban neighborhood looks much less dense than the urban neighborhoods I posted. I suppose it might be because you chose a small city. A smaller city get less dense than a large city and still be walkable because the distances are smaller. The small town I live in now has houses of that style (but not price!) and lot size, though the ones closer to the center have much smaller yards and lot sizes. And interesting link on the different lot sizes in my town (~ 30,000 people):

http://www.northamptonma.gov/opd/upl...ty%20Study.pdf

I like the 10-15 unit blocks the most. Miami seems to have a lot apartment complexes in its urban centers compared to northeast, while its suburbs seem to be medium but not low density. The urban neighborhoods I posted were obviously in major metropolitan areas not small cities. They were in the denser parts of the metro areas but not the center so as pick what I thought would be a more typical urban. If I wanted to pick the most urban areas I could think of I would have chosen an extreme example like this:

ann st new york - Google Maps

built in 1728. Apparently there are condos / apartments on this street, for those who dislike light and want to be near finance.
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Old 01-09-2011, 02:06 PM
 
Location: Youngstown, Oh.
5,496 posts, read 9,433,130 times
Reputation: 5604
Yeah, I should have been more clear. My examples of "urban" are what I like, not the densest example. I've posted those images before, and was told they were suburban. (and I understand their point, but that is what urban looks like in most cities I'm familiar with) My current neighborhood is more dense than the one I posted, at about 8 houses per acre.


But that is about as dense as Youngstown gets.

Cleveland is more dense:
Cleveland, OH - Google Maps

Cleveland, OH - Google Maps

Cleveland used to have some row houses, but I think this is all that's left.
3657 Prospect, Cleveland, OH - Google Maps

Thanks for the link. I've never really thought of neighborhoods in terms of units per acre before. I guess that goes to show how much of a novice I am.
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Old 01-09-2011, 02:19 PM
 
Location: Youngstown, Oh.
5,496 posts, read 9,433,130 times
Reputation: 5604
Quote:
Originally Posted by CubanfromMiami View Post
All of these are from my hometown, Miami, and the surrounding areas. Enjoy.

High-income urban residential mixed with urban commerical/financial buildings.

Google Maps

Urban medium to high density commercial.

Google Maps

Urban medium density low-income residential. Right outside the downtown

Google Maps

About as low density as you can get without being rural. THIS is sprawl. I hate this development with a passion. You can find this throughout all of broward county. This could be considered medium-income. $300-400k homes. That's not that much in Miami.

Suburban mid-to high-income residential. Dense enough not to be sprawl, spread out enough to allow for a sense security and ownership. Just outside of downtown. My ideal neighborhood.

Google Maps

Suburban mixed medium- and low-density residential. "Middle" ring of suburbs. Outside of city proper but not an exurb. Downtown commutable. Not considered sprawl. Not exactly ideal development either. This is where I'm from. The thing in the background is not empty space, it's a school baseball/football field.

Google Maps

Rural. Yes, there are rural areas in Miami . Most of is not near the city proper though. Mostly farmland not too much residential.

Google Maps

We have VERY different ideas about zoning.
The example I highlighted, what you call your ideal neighborhood, seems to be a little more dense than the last neighborhood I just posted pictures of. (maybe 10-12 units per acre?) But the architecture is very different, of course. Would the larger houses on the SW side of the street, with the gated driveways, be considered McMansions? Rust belt cities don't see that kind of development. People would rather build new out in the suburbs/exurbs, instead.
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Old 01-09-2011, 02:24 PM
nei nei won $500 in our forum's Most Engaging Poster Contest - Thirteenth Edition (Jan-Feb 2015). 

Over $104,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum and additional contests are planned
 
Location: Western Massachusetts
46,011 posts, read 53,154,008 times
Reputation: 15174
What's with the gated driveways? I've never really seen them much before except in a few NYC neighborhoods that have been retrofitted for cars. But they are not the norm even there. Do you have them in South Florida because of crime or some sorta stylistic reason?
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Old 01-09-2011, 02:30 PM
 
Location: Miami, FL
187 posts, read 539,450 times
Reputation: 187
Those bigger houses you said, they would be considered middle income houses out west in the exurbs, but with that proximity to the downtown area one of those can easily fetch over $1 million. You could say that in Miami that is certainly not an average home. Not sure about McMansion but definitely more wealthy areas.
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Old 01-09-2011, 03:21 PM
nei nei won $500 in our forum's Most Engaging Poster Contest - Thirteenth Edition (Jan-Feb 2015). 

Over $104,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum and additional contests are planned
 
Location: Western Massachusetts
46,011 posts, read 53,154,008 times
Reputation: 15174
The Youngstown houses look fairly similar to some in my town. The first Cleveland link looks really nice; kinda like the Cambridge, maybe a bit less dense. Very cute looking houses. Is that one of the nicer neighborhoods in Cleveland? Shame the row houses are gone, but that Cleveland neighborhood looks nicer.

On another topic, Downtown NYC has a very classic old urban feel. The street layout and width is from colonial times, giving it almost European feel except for the tall building, which create a rather unique canyon feeling. A few streets even still have cobblestone! Still, the much of the architecture of old for American standards with a mix of modern. There is some residents as well a good mix of shops and restaurants, though the financial district can feel deserted outside of work hours. The narrow maze of streets make it almost unnavigable by car, adding to the pedestrian atmosphere. The only part where the old street layout was changed is the World Trade Center Site (two blocks from the Ann St link I posted), which was actually a state funded urban renewal project. Anyhow, not a place I'd want to live but interesting to check on Google Streetview for its combination of a street layout unusual to American cities creating "canyons".

Here's a cobblestone street:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...225.99,,0,3.96

Last edited by nei; 01-09-2011 at 03:36 PM..
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